Pike Place Market Blog

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If you’re looking for the perfect Easter ham or leg of lamb, biscuits and breads for brunch, candy or toys to fill the Easter basket, or eggs to dye and hide, stop by Pike Place Market and explore all of the plentiful options!

Serving wine or mimosas? Check out Wilridge Winery, Northwest Tastings or the cellar in the upstairs of DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine.

Fill up those Easter baskets with chocolates from indi chocolate, candies from Sweetie’s, and little toys and trinkets from shops like Ugly Baby, Pike Place Gifts, Robot vs Sloth or Market Magic and Novelty Shop.

And of course, you have to dye some eggs! Hop by the Market Creamery for your choice of eggs, available in a large assortment of sizes and varieties.

Visitors to the historic Pike Place Market now have the opportunity to experience delicious traditional Italian handmade pasta dishes influenced by local Northwest flavors at Pasta Casalinga, which opened March 20, 2018 in the Market’s Atrium.

With a shared passion for building community through great food and a welcoming environment, Michela Tartaglia and Nathan Gottlieb are bringing their respective Italian and Pacific Northwest roots together to create rustic, home-style pasta dishes in their warm and cozy market “kitchen.”

For Seattle residents, Pike Place Market has long been a favorite place to shop for holidays and special occasions throughout the year. Many generations of Jewish families have shopped for traditional foods served during Passover from the Market's highstalls (year-round produce vendors) and farm tables, seafood and meat markets, and specialty foods stores.

At various stages during the telling of the Passover story at the Seder—the festive holiday meal celebrated on the first night of the holiday—symbolic foods are often introduced and eaten, such as charoset (a paste made of apples, nuts and wine), gefilte fish (seasoned fish meal matzah balls).

Whether you’re looking for fresh horseradish or parsley, fish or brisket, or anything in between like eggs, nuts and fruit, you’re sure to find the ingredients to make your Passover meaningful and memorable from various Pike Place Market merchants. Don’t know where to start? Check out our Market Directory or the following suggestions:

Warm light pours out of big windows, gleaming off worldly wonders, inviting you to travel the world in the space of one store. Hands of the World has an impressive 35-year history in Pike Place Market, matched only by the countries represented in the store—Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Mali, Kenya, Thailand, India—just to name a few.

As a young woman, Cynthia Hope took off to see the world. Her travels led her through Southeast Asia, including Thailand, where she met a missionary working with local tribal people. Inspired, Cynthia settled in Northern Thailand to work at a refugee camp on the border of Laos. The next two years would be an experience “like living in a National Geographic magazine,” and ultimately one that would change the trajectory of her life forever.

Cynthia returned to the states with a huge collection of handmade folk art from her time abroad. After selling pieces at street fairs for several months, she eventually made her way to Pike Place Market to open Hands of the World, which over the years would become one of Seattle’s most beloved independent shops.

Keeping the shelves full of beautiful jewelry, art, toys and accessories is no easy feat. Without revealing all her secrets, Cynthia notes that while it has become harder to source items for the store, she is able to source directly from people with whom she has built decades-long relationships, thanks to the longevity of her business.

By sourcing from various communities, Hands of the World helps to provide a fair wage and educational resources through a system that is now known as Fair Trade, putting the needs of the producer first. Since 1982, Cynthia has enabled the Market and the Seattle community as a whole to support craftspeople all around the world.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will soon begin construction on First Avenue for its Center City Connector Streetcar. The Market community is encouraged to attend one of two upcoming informational drop-in sessions at Pike Place Market, hosted by SDOT and project partners. At these public sessions, you have the opportunity to meet the project team, get information and ask questions about what to expect during the construction stages, including utility work impacts, load zone and parking changes. Both meetings are identical and are open house format; there will not be any formal presentations, so you are welcome to come any time during the following sessions. For weekly updates from SDOT about the streetcar project, sign up here. To reach the Center City Connector Streetcar team, call the 24-hour hotline at (206) 400-7578 or email centercitystreetcar@seattle.gov.

Construction Map & Schedule:

Almost 50 years ago, two teenagers working at their families’ businesses created what would become a classic Market love story. In 1969, Don Kuzaro Jr. was working as a "clean-up kid" at his dad and uncle's Pike Place Market butcher shop, Don & Joe's Meats. Directly across from the butchery, Diana Hanada was behind the table at her family's farm stand, where she first caught Don's eye.

Every morning after cleaning the display glass, Don would head over to Diana's stand to say hi, tell jokes and make small talk. The two soon became good friends. Their friendship continued even after Don was drafted into the Navy on Valentine's Day 1972, promising to remain pen pals. Between deployments, Don and Diana would spend time together, growing closer, eventually dating and finally tying the knot in 1978.

The couple now has two grown daughters, grandchildren and a lifetime of happy memories. Although Diana’s farm stand is no longer running, if you stop by Don & Joe's Meats the next time you're at the Market and you might see Don behind the counter (though no longer on clean-up duty)!